Fire Emblem: Candle of Hope
by Lureeathee
Summary: The continent of Orlene is at war because of an object known as the candle of hope. The country of Silh, the original owners of the candle, are determined to get it back.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I don't own Fire Emblem, obviously. I did create this continent and characters but nothing else belongs to me. Also...this story is comprised of mostly dialogue.

* * *

"Princess Tessa... What will you do about this?" Reath asked. The archer nervously paced around the meeting room with her bow in hand. She stared at one of the paintings on the wall, which featured a mystical looking candle on a grassy background. It reminded her of something...but she couldn't remember what. She was sure it was from one of the legends she had been told when she was a child.

"What do you mean? The out sprung battles that happen to be occurring near our country? I can't do anything about that, I'm afraid. If these battles do ascend into a war, that is one issue to discuss with my father," Tessa said. Reath turned to face the princess and nodded, however disappointed. Although she had expected that response, she had hoped that the Princess Tessa could do something about it.

"Well then, _your highness, _what would your father do? We've no army! Only a handful of fighters won't do us much good if the king wills us to fight!" Negm said, "Even with what little capable defenders we have, we've virtually no defense. Our supplies? Hardly any. Sure, we have food and those necessities but we barely have any weapons. No armor of any kind either. Surely, princess, you could do _something_ to change that." Reath glared at him, nearly about to scold him for his rude tone of voice, but the princess spoke before she could.

"Excuse me? Do you think I haven't tried? Father refuses to fortify our "army" very much because he thinks it's a waste of resources! He doesn't really care about the battles that are going around us. He wouldn't care that much even if we got attacked, as long as he didn't get injured at all. Do not speak to me like that ever again, Negm. I do understand your frustration," Tessa responded.

"Hmph. I see. I apologize for my behavior," Negm said. He sat down in a nearby chair and leaned back with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Now, please do not interrupt me as what I am about to say is very important. As I said previously, Father doesn't want to give much to our small group of fighters. Or anything at all, in the worst case scenario. However, he _does_ want us to fight. More so, he wants me to lead our group. Negm, you were quite correct in what you said. A handful of fighters won't do us that much good, indeed, but we must listen to the king. The punishment for disobeying will be extremely severe, even for me," Tessa said. Negm's jaw hang open in astonishment. He could hardly believe he heard even though it was the princess herself who was saying this. Reath sighed and buried her face in her hands.

"Your father is crazy! This is absolute insanity! We could just wait out the "war" in another safe place we are quite close to, but no! He decides to make us fight! Also, princess, I thought you said your father didn't care about the battles! You are contradicting what you said, no?" Negm asked.

"Negm! The princess said not to speak to her like that! It's only been a few minutes and you are already disobeying her! How rude!" Reath spoke.

"Ahem. I seem to have worded that a bit confusingly. I meant that if we are somehow involved in the battles, he wants us to fight and he wants me to lead. Yes, he doesn't care. That much is correct. He does have some common sense though. It takes a very heartless or extremely stupid king to not do anything when they are attacked. Does that make more sense?" Tessa asked.

"Yes. I suppose everyone should prepare for fighting, huh? We might as well brace ourselves for the worst," Negm said.

"Gather up everyone. We need everyone from our group as well as anyone else who is potentially helpful," Reath said to Negm.

Negm walked along the roads of Yeryg. So far, he had found found Janice, their cleric, which was good. Healers are always welcomed. About an hour later, Reath came back with the two siblings Rolan and Flera. Rolan was of the ever so overpopulous class on Orlene, mages. The main forces of most armies in Orlene were obviously mages because of that. Flera was the older sister of Rolan and wielded lances.

"Negm, you could only find Janice? What about everyone else? Where are they?" Reath asked.

"I don't know. I couldn't find Declan or Gabe and I see them quite often. What about your sister, Chire? Don't you know where she is?" Negm said.

"Of course I do! Chire is at home. Hmm...is it bad that I find myself hoping for battle to not reach Yeryg?" Reath murmured.

"It will be a war soon. No battles of this caliber _won't_ escalate into a war. We have to brace ourselves and get ready to fight," Negm said, "but we don't even know who we're going to fight or even who's battling who. I hope we get more information from Princess Tessa soon."

Rolan gleefully said, "Well, I heard that it was Silh that attacked first. They are a rather powerful nation in Orlene so it would be extremely hard to go up against them."

"How can you be so damn cheerful when saying that?" Flera asked. Negm wondered why his own sister would be asking that. She should be used to it, right? But still, he was also surprised by Rolan's enthusiasm.

"Hey guys, I think I saw Declan. Uh... yep! It's him alright. HEY! DECLAN! IT'S JANICE!" she yelled towards the direction of the dark mage. Declan's head snapped up and looked at her. At first he looked confused why everyone was gathering in one place.

"What do you want, Janice?" Declan asked as he walked towards them.

"War preparations. We need you for it," Negm answered.

"Huh? A war? Wait, so King Yeryg wants us to fight?" Negm and the others nodded. Declan pulled out one of his Elfire tome and checked it for any damage before turning to the group.

"Very well. I shall assist you in this. When are we going to the-" Declan was cut off as Reath interfered.

"Hold! Why are you discussing this already? We might not even be involved but you guys are making it sound like it's inevitable!" she said. Negm slapped his forehead and answered Reath, "It _is_ inevitable! Use logic! We are going to have to fight since the king wants us to. It's extremely likely that Yeryg won't be spared from war, so we must prepare for it. Everyone else, such as the villagers and the commoners, need to be evacuated to someplace safe while we fight."

"I really, really, dislike this situation. But I digress, so how about we have a meeting about this "war" tomorrow when we find everybody?" she asked.

"That would be excellent. If everyone else agrees, I'm fine with this. Also, leave finding the rest of the people to me. I might not find everybody, but I'll take the burden off your backs," Janice said.

"Thank you, Janice. We all agree, right? That's great then. We'll leave it to you," Reath said. The first place Janice went to look was the training area Gabe trained at everyday. No surprise, she found him there, slashing at random things with his axe. He struck down a small practice dummy with unexpected precision and then proceeded to lop off its head.

"Gabe!" she yelled to get Gabe's attention. The axeman turned around to greet Janice.

"Hiya. What goes on? Is there something you need?" Janice took one deep breath and then explained everything to him in minute detail.

"Oh... That's bad. I'll help you find the members, if that's alright with you," Gabe said.

"Of course it's alright! I appreciate any help!" she chirped. They searched for a few hours, but were unable to find anybody but Beauford. The thief had been hanging around a shop, conversing with the shopkeeper. He resented being called a thief in the stealing sense, because the only "stealing" he did was on the battlefield.

They soon returned to the rest of their group and told them the news.

"Aye, only one person? This isn't going very well. How about we tell Princess Tessa about this and send out messengers from the castle? Yeryg is a very small country, heck, Orlene itself is pretty small so the message will get out fast," Declan suggested.

"Yes, as long as we find them by tomorrow. Come, let's go!" Gabe shouted. Rolan shouted "Yeah!" and pumped his fists into the air while Flera facepalmed. They ran as quickly and consistently as they could to the castle and found Princess Tessa.

"Hey, aren't there a bit more of you?" Tessa asked. Declan told her to send out messengers to the country so they could find the remaining members.

"Hmm...messengers? To the entire country just for the sake of finding a few people? This is a bit absurd," the princess said.

"Please, your highness! We need to have a war meeting as soon as possible! We have to speak with your father as well at the meeting. You may have told us you couldn't do anything about it, but didn't you also say to discuss this matter with the king?" Declan pleaded. The princess pondered on that thought for a moment before agreeing.

"Very well. I shall get my messengers to help you locate the rest of your people," she said.

About two hours passed before the messengers arrived with the rest of the group: Bella, Quatrinia, Dave, and Karlton.

One of the messengers asked, "Hey, I have a question. Aren't you guys a little young? I mean, why is the king allowing teenagers and kids to fight instead of adults?"

"I'm 23 years old, thank you very much! Everyone except Janice, Dave, Beauford, Chire, and Rolan are all in their 20's or older. Even then, they're not children. Yes, they _are _teengaers but they have more skill that most of the adults that could be considered for battle. Karlton is 41, you know, and that's OLD,"

"That I am. Every group needs some elderly advice. As a sage, I assure you I am quite helpful. But thank you, Quatrinia, for calling me old in front of everyone," Karlton said.

"So there, dearie. If you have any other insulting things to say, please do so and I will proceed to burn you with Elfire," Quatrinia threatened.

"O-oh... I'm sorry. Please excuse me," the messenger said and left. Right after the door closed, it opened again and Chire walked in. She was dressed in an unusual way for a resident of Yeryg. Most people wore rather unsophisticated garments and paid little attention to their clothes but Chire was the opposite.

"Hello, everyone! I'm sorry I'm so late here, because I was writing all day long! I hadn't realized the time was just flying past me like that. But anyway, I hear we were going to have a war meeting?" Chire asked.

"Yes, tomorrow. It's pretty late, so how about we all go home for the day and come back here tomorrow?" Reath suggested.

"No. Everyone, don't trouble yourselves. You all may sleep in any of the guest rooms in the castle," Tessa said.

"Wait, do you mean sleeping _together_? 'Cause that is just freaking nasty, ya know. Or do you mean like every one of us in a seperate room? 'Cause that would make a ton more sense," Rolan said. Tessa chuckled and ruffled Rolan's hair.

"I meant the latter, I promise. Though I wouldn't really mind with the former, I'm not very strict with that kind of thing," Tessa said, "I guess I'll see you guys in the morning."

* * *

A/N: So... I hope that wasn't too bad.


	2. Chapter 2

During the night, Dave found himself along with Beauford unable to sleep so they had begun to wander around the castle. They accidentally stumbled into Princess Tessa's room, in which thankfully she was awake and simply sitting in a chair.

"Oh, you guys are awake? You're not tired?" the princess asked.

"Whoops! Sorry, your highness. We didn't mean to come in here, I swear. We'll leave now, so excuse us," Beauford said as he tried to go out the door. Princess Tessa, however, ushered him back into the room.

"No, it's alright. By any chance, would you like to hear a story? I suppose you haven't heard of the legendary candle of hope, have you?" she asked again.

"Umm... No. We'd love to hear the story, if you don't mind of course," Dave said.

"Alright, this is long though, so if you get bored, don't hesitate to leave. The candle of hope is regarded as a sacred object. Its beginnings were in the country of Silh, where the people are extremely skilled in crafting. You know how there are many, many mages in Orlene? The Silhian people took hold of all mages within their country and drained all their magical power, effectively killing them. They stored the power in what would be the ultimate tome. No one really knows how they did that, but the tome they supposedly stored the power in was obviously very powerful. In fact, the people who came to check on the tome daily started getting very sick, and few people even died. The energy from the tome was almost deadly. The Silhian royals were the ones who were in charge of this entire thing, but they didn't notice until at least a dozen people had died. They demanded they seal the power from the tome into something else, and lock that up. The royals didn't want the power to stay in the tome because if someone ever got a hold of it and were strong enough to wield it without getting sick, the results would be devastating. The people who had originally stored the magical power in the tome were also the ones to take it out. Guess what they stored the energy in? A candle. They put it in there, and then locked it up in the most secure place in their country. Silhians afterwards had been taught that the candle was a sacred object, and the pillar of hope in their country. However, war broke out a many years later. An enemy country had invaded Silh and managed to steal the candle. The people of Silh's will crumbled once the candle was stolen. Even the army was losing resolve to fight. The Silhian people lost to the other country and their candle was never returned. To this day, they are still looking for it and recently, they attacked our neighboring country, Lijena, the country that had originally declared war with Silh. They had lost it for over a 100 years... This wasn't really a story, more so than it is the truth. So... thank you for listening," Tessa said. She sighed and then yawned rather loudly.

"Woah, I never knew," they both said.

"I feel somewhat guilty now. I didn't tell Reath and Negm this when we were first discussing this. So, I'll have to tell this to everyone tomorrow so they will understand... I hope you guys don't mind listening to this again," Tessa said.

"Oh no, of course we don't mind. Uh... sorry but, do you have anything we could do? We're uh... we have nothing to do..." Dave said.

"Let's see. Its an hour past midnight right now, so you have approximately 6 hours to do anything. Say, Beauford... you're a thief, correct?"

"Yes, your highness, and I dislike being called one," he answered.

"I understand that, but I have a job for you. In one of the advisors room, there's a crate with a lock over it. The thing is, he's a complete, please excuse my language, asshole. He has a powerful dagger in the crate, which I'm sure you could use. It's that room... over there," Tessa directed Beauford to the direction of the room. Beauford nodded, though he would avoid stealing from anyone at all costs, he wouldn't disobey the princess.

Once he was in the room, he saw someone sleeping in a bed. The person, which Beauford assumed was the advisor, was making quite a ruckus, even in his sleep. A sound reminiscent of a pig came through his mouth and Beauford's face contorted in disgust. He sneaked over to the crate and used all his lock picking knowledge to undo it.

"Ha, you should have guarded that a bit better. The lock stands no chance against I, the lock picking master! I don't participate in thievery though, but since the princess said so, I must! Now, your knife is in my grasp! Oh, crap. He's stirring. I'd better get out of here as soon as possible, but I need to hide all evidence. Eh, I'll put this shitty knife in there in place of this one, so it feels as if its the same weight. Okay... Now I just need to put the lock back on... Done! Now I need to get the hell out of here," Beauford thought. He quickly ran out of the room and into Tessa's.

"Princess Tessa! I got the dagger! It feels powerful too," Beauford said.

"Excellent. I'm going to trust you that you made sure to disguise everything. You did so, right?" Beauford nodded.

"Beauford... I'm bored... Uh... Is there anything for me to do, because I'm not tired at all," Dave said.

"Go wander around the castle if you'd like. Just don't wake anybody up until it's time," Tessa said.

"Alright! Come on, Dave!" Beauford yelled, only to be reprimanded by the princess to quiet down. Beauford _somehow_ followed his instincts to the kitchen. His jaw dropped when he saw the massive amounts of, non-perishable of course, food. Dave simply sighed and left to go read a book, which he thought was more worthy of his time than snacking at night. Beauford went back to the princess' room to ask her for permission to eat. She said yes, and he proceeded to empty about a fourth of the food supply.

When Beauford had finished satisfiying himself, he practiced with his new knife outside the castle until he saw the sun begin to rise.


	3. Chapter 3

When Beauford saw the sun rise, he caught a glimpse of a form flying through the sky. It looked...human, yet it also had wings. The figure flew down to Beauford, to his surprise.

"_Oh... A beorc... Where am I? This isn't Tellius, I'm sure_."

"What? Huh? Wait... I think I know what this is. I've read it in a history book somewhere that there's a language called the Ancient Language? I think it was the history of Tellius... Oh, uh...did you need something?"

"_I don't need anything, but thank you. I just wandered here. You know of Tellius? Oh wait, I'm pretty sure you can't understand this language._ Uh... I... I...laguz..." he said.

"A laguz? I think I read about them. Aren't laguz native to Tellius though? Uh...let's see. What kind of laguz are you?"

"I am... A...uh... Dove?" he said nervously.

"BEAUFORD! COME HERE! Wait, who are you talking to?" Negm said as he exited the castle and towards Beauford.

"Oh, this is... A laguz. I don't know his name, but he seems nice. Before I forget, good morning, Negm," he said.

"_Hello. It's nice to meet-_ S-sorry... I am not... good with... modern tongue," he said.

"This is pretty strange... I've only heard of laguz in books. I didn't think there were any in Orlene though. What's your name and how did you get here?" Negm asked.

"_Elrim. _My...name is Elrim. I... Here from Tellius,_" _Elrim said.

"You're a dove? Huh? I only knew of hawks, ravens and herons in the bird nation. Why were you taught Ancient Tongue? I'm sorry if I sound stupid, but nobody speaks in your language here in Orlene."

"_Arg! Speaking in your tongue is hard! I don't know why I was taught this tongue, but I think it's because the doves like sophisticated things. They probably thought the ancient language sounded a lot more complex and unique compared to your tongue, so they started teaching their children this. I wouldn't know, because I'm quite young for a laguz. I was born fifteen years before the Mad King's War. There really was no place for a laguz that wasn't a bird, beast, or dragon tribe member. We, as well as other laguz such as the dogs, lived across the continent, hiding from beorc civilizations. We weren't even recognized as laguz until now. We were asked to join the "bird tribe". Our leader agreed, of course, but then I got separated from them. I flew into this continent, which I assume is called Orlene, and there you go," _Elrim explained, though no one could understand him.

"What? I couldn't understand a single thing other than "Mad King's War". But oh well, I think we'll figure it out soon enough. Would you like to come into the castle?" Negm asked.

"Y-yes. I...sorry for not understand," Elrim said.

Beauford and Negm led Elrim into the castle. Everyone was awake by then and Janice was about to yell at Beauford, but stopped when she saw Elrim.

"Beauford. Who is this?" the princess asked.

"Everyone, this is Elrim. He is a dove laguz that I found when I was training outside," Beauford said. Someone asked "What's a laguz?" and another said "Cool! He has wings!". Overall, the group was pretty accepting of him.

"You...beorc are much...nicer than some in Tellius," Elrim said, "May I...uh, stay...here? Until I find...my way back to Tellius?"


	4. Chapter 4

"Elrim, please wait outside until our meeting is done," the princess said. He nodded and flew out the window.

"Alright. Now that everyone is here, we shall start. Now, I told Beauford and Dave the reason for this war. Yes, I apologize. I've also been deceiving you somewhat. This _is_ a war. Not between us and another country, but with two others. I'm so sorry for not telling you outright, but I didn't want any panic. Now, I'll tell you the full details," Princess Tessa said everything that she said to Dave and Beauford the last night.

"So is the candle in the painting in this room the candle of hope?"

"So that's why? Damn Silh, it's their fault. They shouldn't have created the candle of hope in the first place! But really, if it doesn't involve us, then why did you agree to this war meeting?" Negm asked.

"Reath, yes. That's what it was intended to be. Negm, Lijena is our ally. We have to assist them. This also has to end before it gets completely out of hand. The candle of hope should be returned to Silh to end the war, but we need to negotiate with Lijena to get them to agree with this. We need to make a plan about how we will handle it," the princess said.

"Wait, so you lied to us? You said your father didn't care, you also said he wanted us to get involved in the war, you said we wouldn't be much good in the war, you said you couldn't do anything about it, and now you're telling us this?" Gabe asked incredulously.

"...yes. I did lie to an extent. I lied somewhat about the part with my father. He is also unable to attend this meeting today. I'm sorry," she apologized, "Now, shall we get on with the actual meeting? How about we come up with a name for this group? It seems a little redundant to keep saying 'this group'."

"Guardians of Stupidity," Chire said simply.

"Hell no."

"Guardians of Orlene, then. It could be shortened to Goo."

"Maybe. I say it should be Yerygan Defenders."

"Quatrinia, that sounds like an absolutely horrid name."

"Shut up, Declan."

"I like Guardians of Orlene the best. It sounds the most authentic to me."

"Shut up, Bella. No one cares about your opinion."

"Quatrinia, you are being downright rude. It's also my opinion that Guardians of Orlene is the best name so far, so unless anyone else suggests a better one, we shall stick with Goo," Karlton said. The sage nodded to Princess Tessa.

"Alright then. Goo it is. I find it a bit awkward but it will suffice. Then... Anyone have a suggestion about how we will approach Lijena?" Princess Tessa threw out the next question.

"Lijena isn't fighting on their home soil. I'm sure the country's king or whatever leader isn't on the battlefield at this moment, nor will they ever go on it. We could go directly to Lijena and tell them that we need to return the candle of hope to Silh," Negm suggested.

"Yes, Negm. But why would they simply give back the candle of hope when they originally stole it from Silh? I think there is a reason why Lijena wants the candle and why they are willing to fight for an object," Gabe pointed out.

"The candle has been said to grow in power as time passes. If it's power is enough to wage war, then it shouldn't be underestimated," Karlton informed.

"Oh, so true! This is a bad situation for us. If we don't help an allied country, what happens?" Bella asked.

"It's considered treason and it counts as us being against them. In short, we're screwed," Rolan said with no hint of intended humor in his voice, yet some Goo members chuckled.

"We're already screwed, Rolan. Our ally is being attacked by a country who had an item very precious to them stolen from their grasp by our ally. We're not going to quell this war until said country gets their candle back, but once again, Lijena is our ally. They were the ones to originally attack Silh, so Silh has a reason to cause the war. It makes sense, but we're stuck in this position because someone had aligned our nation with Lijena. Hahahahahahahaha, we're screwed."

"Pessimism, hon. Don't use it. Declan, when did you start getting this rebellious? We're not screwed, we need to find a way. We will. You don't want our entire continent to be destroyed, do you?" Bella chided with an optimistic demeanor that rivaled Declan's sudden pessimism.

"Find a way, then. I only started to get pessimistic after I found out the real reason for the war. If what the princess previously said before all the candle of hope bull was true, then we would of had a chance," Declan replied.

"This isn't helping our situation any. If you have any ideas, say it. Arguing about what could have happened isn't doing anything to contribute," Karlton advised.

"Says the jeigan of our group. We must listen to his awesomeness right now because it will slowly grow to suck later on! Jeigans forever!" Rolan joked.

"What? What's a jeigan? I thought I told you not to break the fourth wall, you brat! It's things we shouldn't know about!" Flera scolded. Janice decided she wouldn't say anything until the conversation got serious. Reath ran her hand through her hair, straightening out the braid that was previously there.

"Let's send a few messengers there to speak with King Lijena. We can't take any chances and let our main force get killed because we couldn't take precautions. If they return, then we'll know a bit more about what to do. We have to hurry and fight somehow if we're trying to not break off our alliance," Reath said.

"Thank you, Reath. It's about time we had a decent thought. I'll send my most trusted messengers to Lijena and we will have to wait until then. Oh and if you don't mind, everyone stay in the castle until further notice. Please be patient," Princess Tessa announced.

Once everyone had left the meeting room, Elrim flew in through the window he had left in.

"_Is the meeting over? Can I come in now?_" he asked, but he had forgotten nobody understood what he said.

"Uh... You can wait in this castle with the rest of us. We sent out messengers and it might take a few days for them to get to Lijena and to come back here. So... You_ do_ want to go back to... Uh... Tellius, right?" Dave asked.

"Yes. Tellius. I go back there. I... Help you?" Dave had a bit of trouble understanding what he just said.

"Help us? You want to help? Do you have any special abilities?"

"Um... I am transform. Transform into dove. Um...that's it. Stre...strength...double."

"Your strength doubles when you transform? Cool! It'll be cool to have a... What was it... A laguz? Yeah, it'll be cool to have a laguz on our side," Dave said.

"I thought it was only royal herons that had white wings. Why does he have white wings?" Beauford mused.

"_I heard that! Speaking in a quiet voice doesn't mean I can't hear! I have white wings because doves have white wings. Have you seen a dove any other color other than white? I thought not. Our wings are a bit more greyish than the herons though. I've only seen one heron so I can't be sure. The heron I saw had really long blond hair and he was really pale and had green eyes and was very slender and he wore this headband thing and I certainly don't look like that!" _Elrim snapped.

"What the hell did you just say?" Negm wondered. Everyone else that was around them thought the same.

"White wings because doves white wings! Heron... Are different."

"Well duh."

"Be more respectful, asshole. I'm sure you wouldn't appreciate being talked to like that, Negm."

"Beauford, I don't appreciate being called an asshole either."

"But that's what you are.~ So deal with it.~"

"ARG! Go die in a fire!"

"Be..e...nicer. _That's not nice at all, you...human. Eck, why am I hanging around people like you?_" Elrim started in modern speech but quickly switched to the Ancient Tongue to express his disdain for what Negm said.

"What? Sorry, I guess. I don't know what you said though."

"We'll just be going then. I'll see you later!" Beauford said as he saluted.


End file.
